1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a print client, and a print system, and particularly relates to a printer, a print client, and a print system which enable alternative printing while ensuring security of data transmitted to the printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, a print system in which a printer is shared by means of a network has been increasingly used. Namely, by connecting plural computers as print clients to one network and connecting, for example, one printer to this network, one printer can accept print data from the plural print clients and print the print data.
In such a print system by means of the network, various users can transmit print data from their respective print clients to the printer and perform printing.
However, if the print data transmitted from the print clients is printed by the printer unconditionally, a print operation is executed even by the printer which is not installed in a place where the user intends to perform printing. In particular, in the case of the printer which is moved from one place where the printer has been heretofore used to another place, an IP address or the like which is an address on the network sometimes remains unchanged, and hence the transmitted print data may be printed by the printer moved to another place. The above situation is undesirable for users who want to ensure the security of print data.
Moreover, if the print data transmitted from the print clients is printed by the printer unconditionally, even print data transmitted from the print clients which are not duly authorized to perform printing with the printer is printed by the printer. In this case, print clients capable of perform printing with the printer cannot be restricted, which is undesirable as well. Especially when the possibility of the existence of users who transmit a large amount of print data with dishonest intention is considered, it is necessary to provide some print restriction.
Further, in some cases, a printer which has been used in one department of a company is moved to another department and used there. In such a case, even print clients which have heretofore had the authority of perform printing with this printer are not sometimes wanted to be given the authority to perform printing with this printer after the printer has been moved. In the above situation, a need for technology which prevents print data from the print clients from being printed on the printer side is acknowledged.
Furthermore, in some cases, the printer which has received print data from the print client cannot execute a print operation for some reason. For example,the printer cannot sometimes execute a print operation due to a paper jam, a paper empty error, or the like. In such a case, if the print data is printed by an alternative printer capable of printing the print data as an alternative thereto, user-friendliness is increased.
Hence, the present invention is made in view of the aforementioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer, a print client, and a print system which can realize alternative printing while ensuring security of print data.